Good Morning Taiwan
2016-10-22
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Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je is committed to demolishing illegal structures. However,the pressure from council representatives and the lack of manpower preventd the effort. There are currently more than 8,000 illegal structures in Taipei city. The Construction and Planning Agency is proposing to enforce stricter laws while the Taipei City Government is raising the fees for forcible demolition fivefold. However, the real estate industry believes that those measures will not bring the intended results.

Shipping containers are placed around the basketball court near Taipei World Trade Center. They are unregistered and the structures do not meet the regulations. The contractors have been requested by the city government to remove these containers.

==WORKER==
The law limits the height of these structures to less than 2 meters. (So they are illegal because of the height?) Yes.

Since taking office, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je has been committed to addressing the city's huge number of illegal structures. However, insufficient manpower and pressure from council representatives have limited the removal number to only 150 each month. The city government announced that it will take a gradual step towards tearing down illegal structures built before 1994 but will force demolitions of the 8,492 existing illegal structures built after 1995. New regulations have also kicked off in 2015.

==KO WEN-JE, Taipei City Mayor==
Houses built after September 2015 cannot contain illegal structures. Let's first put a stop to the ones in newly-built projects. As for the ones built before that, I'm still thinking about it. All in all, we should come up with a solution to illegal structures.

==HUNG TE-HAO, Section Chief, Dept. Illegal Building Control==
If there is no just cause or new evidence for cases backed by council representatives, we will still force the demolition.

According to the Construction and Planning Agency, the number of illegal structures in the country has exceeded 660,000 by August. Realtors believed that high housing price and huge population are the causes behind the staggering number.

==HSU CHIA-HSIN, Real Estate Agent==
In addition to imposing penalty, it is also important to think about relaxing regulations to meet the needs of the general public.

The agency will amend the laws to impose a fine of NT$500,000 on those who refuse to remove illegal structures. Meanwhile, the Taipei City Government will raise the fees for forcible demolitions by 5 times. However, the real estate industry believes that both measures will not create the intended results. It suggests that the government relax the regulations on illegal structures in order to solve the problem.